Dearborn wavy sidewalks look like a mistake. They're not

New sidewalks being installed in Dearborn are matching the contour of the wavy ground. Firestone Street is currently under construction and photographed Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo

Walking on Firestone or Cromwell Streets in Dearborn might feel like you've entered a surrealist painting: Rather than a flat pathway, portions of the sidewalk curve up and down in gentle waves.

It's not an engineering fluke. The funhouse effect is actually an unusual consequence of construction to make the roads comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

A perfect storm of factors led to the sidewalk waves on older streets, said city engineer Yunus Patel, particularly the city's closely placed lots and narrow boulevards.

"There's the wavy sidewalks all over because we don’t have wider spaces between the curb and sidewalk, and that’s the most constraining factor," Patel said.

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New sidewalks being installed on Firestone street in Dearborn are matching the contour of the wavy ground. Photographed on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)

Dearborn has been steadily revamping its sewage system in recent years with new water lines and reconstructed roads. New street levels, of course, mean ensuring that sidewalks comply with the ADA's safety standards.

But in older neighborhoods, that gets visually funky. The ADA requires that sidewalks have a mild slope so that people with limited mobility can move safely. At the same time, the sidewalk has to remain above street level for drainage, with driveways low enough to the ground so that cars don't bottom out.

The effect is a wave that peaks between houses and slopes back down at the driveway level.

That's why modern cities are built to have more space between houses and wider boulevards, said director of public works Jim Murray. It wouldn't be quite so noticeable except for the fact that many of Dearborn's streets were built before 1940.

Still, it's by no means extreme, he said, and the point is that sidewalks are safer for all residents.

"It’s very slight slopes, but when you’re looking down the streets, they appear to be wavy," Murray said. "But they’re slight waves as opposed to being severe waves in different places where they were before.”

When the city started replacing sidewalks back in about 2008, some residents were concerned by how they looked, Patel said. But by now, it's understood to be par for the course — and that rollerbladers should use the street.

Dearborn spends about $10 million every year on the sewage separation project that includes the sidewalk work, Patel said.

"We can’t avoid the appearance without completely reconstructing the whole neighborhood all the way up to their front porch," Murray added.